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A Found Memento: Raising a King

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

For those of the Alliance, the loss of King Varian Wrynn at the Broken Shore continues to echo throughout Azeroth. But for his son, Anduin Wrynn, that loss is felt most keenly as he faces not only the loss of a father, but takes on new responsibilities as a king.

Whether Horde or Alliance, we didn’t want you to miss seeing the culmination of the Alliance-only quest line A Found Memento and witnessing the rise of the new King of Stormwind.

In-game Cinematic Team Insights:
This was a story we had been wanting to share for a while, but hadn’t yet arrived at the right moment in the expansion to tell it. When things fell apart at the Broken Shore, it felt like there were many things left unsaid and unfinished for Anduin—and for the community as well. We went from the death of a king during the horrific clash at the Broken Shore, right into a battle for Azeroth’s very survival against the Burning Legion. There was no time to grieve for Anduin. However, with our return to the Broken Shore in Patch 7.2, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to revisit the young Wrynn’s storyline, and reveal to the audience that he’s still struggling to find his place as a king and coming to terms with the death of his father.

Knowing the story we wanted to tell in this cinematic, the quest team took the initiative to craft a robust quest line leading up to it, building and amplifying the emotional context for the cutscene. For those who have had the opportunity to play through it, there’s significant impact as we gain insight into what Anduin is experiencing—you see the people of Stormwind sharing their unvarnished feelings and doubts about Anduin as their new king. You witness some of the same skepticism conveyed by Genn Greymane—who, in his own gruff way, has stepped in as a father figure to the young king—and Velen, who has been his friend and mentor in the way of the Light on his journey to priesthood. Hearing these doubts led Anduin to make a firm decision: “I must see the Broken Shore for myself.”

The rest of the tale is told within the cinematic. Everyone who worked on it is incredibly thankful that, after all that has happened, we had the opportunity to say “goodbye” to King Varian Wrynn, and reveal a glimpse of what lies ahead for King Anduin Wrynn.

Key Character Bios

Anduin Wrynn —King of Stormwind

“There will be peace. One day.”

The son of Tiffin and the late King Varian Wrynn, Anduin Llane Wrynn has ascended the throne in Stormwind to take on the mantle of leader after the loss of his father. Anduin continues to struggle with his role in a world rife with brutality and war, but is working to reconcile his yearning for peace and the necessity of war. Learn more about Anduin’s story here.

Genn Greymane – King of Gilneas

“A monster lurks in my veins… Threaten my people, and it will be the last thing you ever see.”

After spending many years of isolation and abjectly refusing to rejoin the Alliance, Genn Greymane and his nation suffered a horrifying curse, transforming some Gilneans—including Greymane–into bloodthirsty wolf-beasts known as worgen. Their long seclusion behind their wall ended when Sylvanas and her Forsaken invaded the weakened kingdom and wreaked great destruction upon them. Gilneas suffered great losses—including the death of Genn’s own son, Liam. Rather than crumble, Greymane has focused his efforts on securing peace for the Alliance intent on one day reclaiming his lost kingdom. Learn more of Genn Greymane’s story here.

Velen, Leader of the Draenei

“Where faith dwells, hope is never lost.”

Velen is the spiritual leader of the draenei—a people once a part of the eredar—who have long been in exile from their homeworld of Argus. Velen was able to foresee the perils of following Sargeras and eventually led his people to make landfall in Azeroth. A paragon of the Holy Light, he continues to fight against the Burning Legion as a voice of wisdom for the Alliance.

As many of you have been aware, this tuesday evening we all suffered some sad turn of events.

I'll try to keep this post as short and on-topic as possible, but I feel like I owe it to all of the fans (and haters) that I and my guild Serenity have had in the past couple of years.

When we disbanded from Method in the beginning it was to make a raiding environment of people that shared the same interest in the game and that had the same desire to be the best. At first (during HFC farm) we accomplished that. We had a group of 25 players who all had numerous WF's on the record and we were looking strong as hell going into Legion.

As things progressed during the endless HFC farm that it was, people started quitting. We lost 3 noteably worthy players in Berrek, Sonie, and later on Zaelia, which was a huge blow for us. All 3 due to IRL commitments, which is only natural.

We kept going on as a guild trying to find the right players, but it was hard and it took a lot of effort on all of us. The stability of a core roster (especially your healers) is just the key to every top guilds' success.

Anyways. Enough about our roster issues over the years. Haters are gonna say its our own fault because we have a hostile environment or whatever lame-ass-hating comment you might have, and i'm glad you feel that way, because it means we were doing something right :-)

Now, personally. I wanna thank all of the 50+ players we've had in Serenity since we formed it, I wanna thank all of the fans, the friends, the viewers, the followers on social media and our sponsors we've had, I hope you all will still follow the race, follow MY friends that I've played with for the past 2 years and I hope you'll keep being awesome, because for a guy whos competing for a world first, theres nothing sweeter than when you get a cheer on the back from you guys following the wow PvE scene.

I know as i'm writing this post and as you guys might feel on my tone this is the end of my online "career". I will officially retire from the game with a heavy heart as the goal we set out to reach never got reached (the world first), however I have so many good memories that I will cherish forever.

To end it off with, thank you to Method for the motivation you've brought since we split up, and thank you for our times back in the day before we ditched. Props to you Sco for building the brand you've always talked about - I've been in it and I wanna give a massive kudos of respect to you for not burning out.

And lastly but not least I wanna give a shoutout to the friends that I met through this WoW process, particularly Leeds, Rogerbrown (all hates about your poaching aside), Pottm, Fragnance, Mike, Ted, Bodari, Ashvael, and Zeuzonita of course.

PTR Development Notes - Build 24116

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

This week’s PTR update enables the Deaths of Chromie scenario for testing! You’ll find her looking for help in Dalaran. We’re really looking forward to hearing your feedback, so please give it a try and let us know what you think in the dedicated feedback thread.

Later this week, we’ll be starting up some more raid testing for Mythic Tomb of Sargeras. We’ll also be opening Tomb for Raid Finder testing over the weekend. We’ll have more details soon – keep an eye out if you’d like to participate.

Also of note in this build are a few more class changes, including a fairly substantial round of updates for Subtlety Rogues. Again, please give them a try on the PTR and let us know what you think.

Thanks as always, and happy testing!

Raid Testing Schedule - May 18-19

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

On Thursday and Friday, May 18-19, we will be conducting Mythic raid testing of Tomb of Sargeras bosses.

After testing concludes on Friday, we plan to open Raid Finder Tomb of Sargeras over the weekend.

As always, this testing schedule is very fluid and subject to the realities of a PTR environment. We might have to change the time of a testing session, change the bosses being tested, or cancel a test entirely, due to bugs, server hardware issues, etc. Keep an eye on this forum for the latest information, and thank you in advance for testing and providing feedback.

Christie Golden Working at Blizzard
Christie Golden is heading to work at Blizzard for a while!

Everyone is talking about Serenity being eliminated in the #AmazingGrind but no one is bringing up the fact that Blizzard made a really good writing decision by hiring someone who isn't Kosak or Knaak.

I wonder how many competitive guilds, and players, need to shelve World of Warcraft before the designers realise that their vision for raiding is driving its community into the ground?

Perhaps you should look into why Serenity disbanded before you apply your cookie cutter blanket statement.

The one's that left left because they have a better chance at getting WF in Method than Serenity. Serenity was having leadership problems, some of which influenced by RL issues, which, even at that end of the raiding spectrum, still take priority. It didn't end for the same reason other guilds have. This end is actually much more common for the rest of the guilds out there pushing for kills; without rock solid leadership and direction, guilds flounder and either struggle on or lose members to greener pastures until they die. Kuznam has seen this before, he was already getting ready to step down anyways, saw no point in dragging it out, and made the decision. It happens. I wish all the players best of luck, with whatever/wherever they end up.

She used to be decent writer, but I'd say from The Shattering onward, she went from decent to worse to catastrophic, with War Crimes probably being the worst of the bunch. Then again, when other people dictate you the story there's not much room for improvisation.

As for her job at Blizzard, she might be a good fit. Her bibliography shows she was for the longest time writer for hire writing for whicher universe hired her, but I'm not expecting much. More Jaina bullshit if anything.

Can't say I'm particularly happy at Golden being hired on for Blizzard, even if it is temporary. The woman is not a good writer, and the novels she has written are borderline fan fiction with how terribly paced, and laden with awful dialogue, prose, and plot holes. But it's temporary, so it's likely that she's being brought on to help direct a character she's written in one of her books to be included in the game's lore.

Atleast, that's what I'm hoping. I'm not entirely sure I could stomach something like the power of friendship and rainbow beams actually appear in WoW like it did in Twilight of the Aspects, or that absolutely laughably bad conclusion to Warcrimes. I really wish it was Stackpole or even William King coming on instead, atleast when they wrote their respective novels, they felt like they were properly part of the Warcraft lore and universe... Nothing Golden writes ever feels like it fits in with what's going on with Warcraft, and the world as a whole.

So another top end guild falls apart, and Christie Golden goes from being contracted to write shitty novels for Blizzard to a full time staff (presumably writer) for Blizzard... have they actually read the trash she has produced for them?

at least Christie. can be better than Kosak or afrasiabi right? i love the Lord of the clans novel, she have potential to do a good work, cause the lore is rly shit right now, i can't see getting worse for me

Can't say I'm particularly happy at Golden being hired on for Blizzard, even if it is temporary. The woman is not a good writer, and the novels she has written are borderline fan fiction with how terribly paced, and laden with awful dialogue, prose, and plot holes. But it's temporary, so it's likely that she's being brought on to help direct a character she's written in one of her books to be included in the game's lore.

Atleast, that's what I'm hoping. I'm not entirely sure I could stomach something like the power of friendship and rainbow beams actually appear in WoW like it did in Twilight of the Aspects, or that absolutely laughably bad conclusion to Warcrimes. I really wish it was Stackpole or even William King coming on instead, atleast when they wrote their respective novels, they felt like they were properly part of the Warcraft lore and universe... Nothing Golden writes ever feels like it fits in with what's going on with Warcraft, and the world as a whole.

I've been saying for years Blizzard should spend some of that Scrooge McDuck vault on hiring good authors to come in and write the story arcs for the game, and develop characters and such.

Golden? Not who I was thinking of. She's a fan fiction writer who went pro. Good enough, but not great. Granted, i havent liked any of the WoW books, by any of the authors, as I've been a bookworm since a kid and I'm well steeped in the greats, so I'm picky.

Good luck to her. She's gonna need it. The storylines in the game are so bad now, she's gonna need a miracle to clean it all up - if that's what she's doing. She's better than Kosak, but not by much.